The door opening of certain air cargo containers is closed by the use of a roof-mounted hanging fabric curtain. This fabric provides security, prevents small articles from falling out of the container, and prevents the ingress of rain water. To provide structural support to the fabric curtain, netting is generally stretched across the door opening outside the fabric curtain. Various types of hook, latch or clip systems have been used for attaching the netting across the front of air cargo containers, and different forms of buckles or cam-buckle combinations have been used to tension the net elements. Some systems combine the attachment and tensioning devices. The fasteners for such netting must be capable of withstanding of the order of 2,000 pounds tension and be able to be released easily with one hand when under tension. Most such devices involve separate securing and tensioning steps.
Many prior devices have protrusions which are susceptible to snagging on people or equipment coming into close proximity to the fasteners. Other devices have components which include coil springs which are prone to failure and cannot support large loads given the size limitations on such springs. Yet other devices require drilling a plurality of mounting holes in the container thereby weakening its integrity as well as requiring several manufacturing steps.
Accordingly, there is a need for a fastener for cargo container netting which releases easily even when under tension and which is small, unobtrusive, inexpensive, simple to construct and operate and which can withstand loads of up to about 2000 pounds.
An object of the present invention is to provide an improved method of attaching and tensioning netting fronts for air cargo containers. It is a further objective to provide a highly durable device capable of carrying severe tension loads but which can be quickly released even when under load. It is yet a further objective to provide a device which, either when connected or disconnected, has no components capable of snagging or hooking on people or equipment which may be moving in close proximity. Yet another objective is to provide a design which requires only a single mounting hole on the container for each device.